Hawking sometimes comes across quite like a deist in his popular writings, particularly in the book, A Brief History of Time, in which most of the questions posed of the universe also echo questions traditionally asked of God. He was born into the Jewish tradition, yet self-identifies as an atheist. This is why it makes sense to saythat theism is true or false and to argue for or against theism. Padma Vibhushan Subrahmanyan Chandresekhar [1910-1995] better known by his nickname “Chandra” – has a space-based X-ray observatory named after him, launched by the space shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999. John Rogers Searle [b. Shannon and his wife Betty put their collective mathematical and analytical abilities together in a game theory for many successful visits to the gaming tables in Las Vegas and made a fortune. Perhaps his most momentous achievement was his 1936 paper reformulating Kurt Godel’s results on the limits of proof and computation, replacing Godel’s arithmetic-based formal language with what are now known as Turing machines – formal and simple devices. Many atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as Humanism and Naturalism.. An interdisciplinary discussion of issues raised by the sort of naturalistic account of religion promoted in Dennett 2006 and elsewhere. A child of New England privilege with a genealogical heritage tracing back to Louis IX of France, she received her degree in history and philosophy from Bryn Mawr despite a record of breaking curfew, smoking and skinny dipping in the fountain. A defense of Christianity against the criticisms of the New Atheists. An engaging and energetic speaker, Dawkins promotes atheism as senior editor and columnist for the Council for Secular Humanism’s Free Inquiry magazine, and as a member of the editorial board of Skeptic magazine since it was founded. Atheism (or non-theism) is the belief that gods do not exist, or a complete rejection of Theism or any belief in a personal god or gods (the latter also known as antitheism).It can cover a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes. The New Atheists are not philosophers of religion, and none of them addresses either theistic or atheistic arguments to any great extent. His On An Island has been called “the most spiritual album ever made by an avowed atheist.”. Dawkins is less committed to this specific hypothesis than he is to the general hypothesis, and he is open to other specific hypotheses of the same kind. A fan of the good doctor since childhood, his writing and direction of the new series has won critical acclaim and a new generation of fans. A defense of religion against the New Atheists’ arguments by a philosopher-theologian. Warren Edward Buffett [b. U. S. A. Atheism is generating quite a lot of attention these days. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006). Paul Zachary Myers [b. It is not recommended for a reader who has not had experience reading post modern philosophy and/or atheist philosophy. Some critics, like William Lane Craig, reply that, at best, Dawkins’ argument could show only that the God hypothesis does not explain the appearance of design in the universe but could not demonstrate that God probably doesn’t exist. What science will show about religious belief, they claim, is that this belief can be explained as a product of biological evolution. Yet among philosophers, a supposedly rational group, 62% are atheists (compared to about half that among all academics and 2% in the general population). In 2005, Davies was tapped to write and produce a more adult spinoff called Torchwood, which featured darker science fiction drama and more sex and which Davies described as “The X-Files meets This Life.” Davies was named the most influential gay person in Britain in 2006, spent several years on the top 100 list of influential media figures, and was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2008. What emerged from his resolution is a view he calls “biological naturalism” – that consciousness is real, caused by the physical processes of the brain. The scientific investigation of religion of the sort Dennett recommends has prompted a larger interdisciplinary conversation that includes both theists and non-theists with academic specialties in science, philosophy, and theology (see Schloss and Murray 2009 for an important example of this sort of collaboration). An even bigger fortune was made later by Shannon and colleague Ed Thorp when they applied the same theory (later known as the Kelly criterion) to the stock market. These debates are accessible in a number of places on the Internet. Selected statements from the Ethics On his views of religion, Chomsky said in a Common Sense interview in 2002, “…if you ask me whether or not I’m an atheist, I wouldn’t even answer. Ruse, Michael. Dawkins does devote a chapter apiece to each of these tasks in the process of making a case for his claim that there almost certainly is no God. He got involved in the use of the internet for this purpose and was a founding member of the pro-evolution website The Panda’s Thumb, and created his own web blog, Pharyngula, in 2002. How Science Shows that God does not Exist (Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2008). “Why I think the New Atheists are a Bloody Disaster,” https://biologos.org/blogs/archive/why-i-think-the-new-atheists-are-a-bloody-disaster, posted August 14th, 2009. This view drew much criticism from behaviorists, particularly his hypothesis that humans share an innate linguistic capability. It was his investigation of the saliva of dogs that first led him to notice that the animals salivated more when they expected food, a phenomenon he termed “psychic secretion.” He was particularly interested in studying conditioned behaviors as an experimental model of the induction of neuroses. Though a critic of the deterministic view of human behavior and society, he contributed much to expanding upon the mechanisms of natural evolution. Many non-theists have located the natural basis for morality in human convention, a move that leads naturally to ethical relativism. His primary interests encompassed two fundamental problems in biology. He composed and performed the “Prophesy Theme” for David Lynch’s Dune, and produced Laurie Anderson’s Bright Red album, among many other projects in music, performance and fine art, literature, theatrical soundscapes and sound bytes for iPhone, Windows and video games. He celebrates the liberation of human beings from ignorance due to the growing and assumedly limitless capacity of science to explain the universe and everything in it. Dennett believes that a purely naturalistic spirituality is possible through a selfless attitude characterized by humble curiosity about the world’s complexities resulting in a realization of the relative unimportance of one’s personal preoccupations. Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno [b. At the age of 16 he encountered Einstein’s work and extrapolated it to question Newton’s laws of motion from a text in which this challenge was not made explicit. He was most noted for his focus on psychology, religion, the English language and any other subject that might shock and delight his audiences. A journalistic case against religion and religious belief. Wozniak is a committed philanthropist, funding various educational projects, and has even taught fifth graders. Democritus was an ancient Greek philosopher, the most prolific and influential of the pre-Socratics and whose atomic theory is regarded as the intellectual culmination of early Greek thought. Conversations about the New Atheists’ stances and rationales have also taken place in the form of debates between Harris, Dawkins, Hitchens, and Dennett and defenders of religious belief and religion such as Dinesh D’Souza, who has published his own defense of Christianity in response to the New Atheists’ arguments. “I mean, he probably had one of the lowest body fat counts of any athlete. He became an atheist with a firm conviction that all phenomena must be materialistic in nature. The New Atheists are authors of early twenty-first century books promoting atheism. This sort of claim invites further discussion about the sorts of purposes God would have and strategies God would employ in communicating with human beings in different times and places. A criticism of the New Atheists by an atheist. Harris, who thinks that atheism is obviously true, does not dedicate much space to a discussion of arguments for or against theism. Criticisms have been raised about a number of the New Atheists claims mentioned above. Though he has been often accused by his critics of turning his environmental causes into a religion of its own, Suzuki describes himself in his autobiography as an atheist with no illusions about life and death. 1933] is an American physicist best known for his work on unification of electromagnetism and the weak force, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1979. Dennett’s retrospective about the impact made by the four original New Atheists following the initial publication of their books. His approach became known as “behaviorism,” and after his death his work was extended by William Sargant and others in an attempt to develop a systematic method for brainwashing and implantation of false memories. Theism, in turn, is best understood as a proposition—something that is either true or false. to the controversial (prohibition of “victimless crimes” such as drug use and prostitution, criminalization of abortion and euthanasia, “child abuse” due to identification of children as members of their parents’ religious communities, etc.). The first and most ancient of recognized atheists must include a 5th century b.c.e. He then became a prominent member of the performance art/classical music orchestra the Portsmouth Sinfonia from 1972-74, and developed his highly eclectic, ambient style in a series of solo albums. Harris also hints at reasons to deny God’s existence by pointing to unexplained evil and “unintelligent design” in the world. 1929] is a theoretical physicist and emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. These positions constitute the background theoretical framework that is known as the New Atheism. Carl Edward Sagan [1934-1996] was an American astronomer, astrochemist, and successful popularizer of science.Sagan was connected to the American space program from the beginning, working as an advisor to NASA from the 1950s. 1944] was born in Nairobi, Kenya, one of three sons of noted archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey. A critical reply to Dawkins and Hitchens (“Ditchkins”) by a Marxist literary critic. He displayed distinct signs of genius early in his life, solving advanced problems without having studied elementary calculus. Schloss, Jeffrey and Michael Murray, eds. “Is Yahweh a Moral Monster? There are varying accounts of his age at death, ranging from a ripe 90 all the way to 109 years. Another example of an ‘unorthodox’ philosopher, Chalmers too belongs to the New York University crew of star philosophers, but also teaches at the Australian National University. He had one of his students attend him on his deathbed to record the circumstances of his dying, as if it were just another psychological experiment. Stephen Gary “Woz” Wozniak [b. Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon (New York: Penguin, 2006). A scientific case against the existence of God by a physicist who also taught philosophy and who is often classified as a New Atheist. He has also written several books about science and environmentalism, is an outspoken critic of global climate change corporate deniers and established the David Suzuki Foundation to promote sustainability. Craig, William Lane, ed. Harris is explicit about placing the blame for these evils on faith, defined as unfounded belief. Philosopher Michael Ruse states that “if you want a concession, I’ve always said that naturalism is an act of faith…” (2). 1936] is a Canadian zoologist, geneticist, science broadcaster and environmental activist. He earned that Ph.D. in zoology from Indiana University at the age of 22. Despite some controversy over the platform and a lawsuit over the ConnectU application which was later dismissed, Zuckerman sold a 1.6% stake in Facebook to Microsoft, which had a $15 billion market value at the time according to Forbes. Linus Carl Pauling [1901-1994] was one of the most influential chemists in history as well as one of the most important scientists of the 20th century – or, according to Gautam Desiraju who wrote the Millennium Essay in the journal Nature, one of the greatest thinkers and visionaries of the last thousand years. 1957], better known as “PZ,” is an evolutionary developmental biologist and professor of biology at the University of Minnesota, Morris. Atheist philosophers. Harris, Sam. The New Atheists agree that, while religion may have been a byproduct of certain human qualities that proved important for survival, religion itself is not necessarily a beneficial social and cultural phenomenon on balance at present. Bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger was influenced by Lee, described his physique as defined, with very little body fat. The ranks of scientists boast probably the largest concentration of atheists, and many of those have been recognized as among the most brilliant of human beings for their work. The following year an asteroid was named in her honor. Third, what is the ontological ground of the universal moral standard? The New Atheists seem to be agreed that we have foundational moral knowledge. Harris, Sam. “Atheism” is typically defined in terms of“theism”. An intellectual and moral critique of faith-based religions that recommends their replacement by science-based spirituality. 1963] is a Welsh writer and producer of the modern version of the popular science fiction television series Doctor Who. He adopted her two children and the couple had two more. The New Atheists appeal to the deliverances of the empirical sciences as their criterion for rational religious belief. In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins states that faith is blind trust without evidence and even against the evidence. Stephen William Hawking [b. 1930] is an American businessman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway rated by Forbes as the richest person in the world (in the first half of 2008, before the Wall Street meltdown). I would first want an explanation of what it is that I’m supposed not to believe in, and I’ve never seen an explanation.”, James Dewey Watson [b. As might be expected, attention has been focused on their epistemological views, their metaphysical assumptions, and their axiological positions. Dawkins endorses the general hypothesis that religion and religious belief are byproducts (what some evolutionary biologists call “spandrels”) of something else that has survival value. His philosophical writings established his strong advocacy for an atheistic world view, and he was eulogized as “the atheist’s touchstone” for the 20th century. 1950] is a computer engineer who founded the Apple computer company with Steve Jobs. But in his autobiography he stated, “At the age of eighteen, …I read Mill’s Autobiography, where I found a sentence to the effect that his father taught him the question “Who made me?” cannot be answered, since it immediately suggests the further question “Who made God?” This led me to abandon the “First Cause” argument, and to become an atheist.”. “Demanding that they be combined detracts from the glory of each.”. The same could probably be said of the modern times. Having become one of the wealthiest musicians in the world – and a Knight of the Realm as of 2003 as well – Jagger founded his own film company with Victoria Pearman in 1995, Jagged Films. He contributed “Punctuated Equilibrium” to the evolutionary lexicon to explain the fossil evidence of abrupt changes in organismic form interspersed with long periods of stability. For an introduction to the sorts of issues this conference addresses, see Copan 2008. Prominent atheists are getting the word out about their views in increasing numbers and generating lots of public debate on the proper place of religion in governments and share societies in the modern world. “Afterword” in Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 10th anniversary edition (London: Penguin Random House, 2016), pp. Best known for her sweeping intellectual masterpiece Atlas Shrugged, the fiction mystery allowed her to fully develop her philosophy of objectivism. 1966] is a theoretical cosmologist specializing in general relativity and dark energy. “I shall never be converted, and I shall remain true to my old religion of the classics until my life’s end,” he declared shortly before his death. When asked why … At the age of 14 she starred in the movie Taxi Driver, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. He also wrote three episodes of the BBC series Doctor Who for his friend Russell T Davies and served as script editor during the seventh season. He also says that, whereas the Bible contains no formal discussion of mathematics and some obvious mathematical errors (he takes I Kings 7:23-26 to state that the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter— π—is 3:1), a book written by an omniscient being could contain a chapter on mathematics that would still be the richest source of mathematical insight humanity has ever known. The New Atheists make substantial use of the natural sciences in both their criticisms of theistic belief and in their proposed explanations of its origin and evolution. in Athens, Epicurus established the school of philosophy known as Epicureanism, and was a follower of Democritus even though his own philosophy denied the influence of strong determinism and often denounced other philosophies as confused. Active 2 months ago. The New Atheists and Old Testament Ethics,” Philosophia Christi 10:1, 2008, pp. Stephen Russell Davies [b. A revised edition of his 2006 response to Christian reactions to his 2004 book. He is a recipient of the 1997 Dirac Medal and Prize for outstanding contributions to theoretical physics, the High Energy and Particle Physics Prize by the European Physical Society, and the Wolf Prize in physics. Since the New Atheists have denied the existence of any supernatural reality, this moral standard has to have a purely natural and secular basis. In spite of their different approaches and occupations (only Dennett is a professional philosopher), the New Atheists tend to share a general set of assumptions and viewpoints. An Atheism is a brilliantly written, thoughtful book that presents the reader with the history of a modern atheism that has separated itself from humanism. As a matter of fact, he says, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction” (Dawkins 2006, p. 31). Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dorm room in 2004. The epistemological component is their common claim that religious belief is irrational. The New Atheists also affirm evidentialism, the claim that a belief can be epistemically justified only if it is based on adequate evidence. Clearly, the range of philosophical issues raised by the New Atheists’ claims and arguments is broad. Currently he is a Senior Research Associate in Physics at Caltech, writes scientific books and textbooks in his areas of expertise, contributes to the blog Cosmic Variance, writes articles for science magazines such as Nature, Seedm and and is a popular presenter and lecturer at scientific symposia. Yet among philosophers, a supposedly rational group, 62% are atheists (compared to about half that among all academics and 2% in the general population). God is Great, God is Good: Why Believing in God is Reasonable and Responsible (Grand Rapids: InterVarsity Press, 2009). Dawkins replies to the critic who asks, “If there’s no God, why be good?” by questioning the necessity, desirability, and efficacy of a desire for divine approval as a motivator for moral behavior. Pinker argues that many other human mental faculties are adaptive in an evolutionary sense and can be understood best from that angle. While he does not publicly profess atheism, Hawking does profess agnosticism. Atheism & Religion Infographics (1) Atheist Comics Strips - Atheist Image Collection (44) Atheist Philosophers (24) Atheist Scientists (47) Blasphemous Art (2) Celebrity Atheists (50) Children (10) Church and State (11) Famous Atheists (136) Famous Quotes (18) Is Religion Dangerous? The two sold some possessions to raise $1,300, assembled the first prototypes in Job’s garage. Definitely a skeptic, he is thought by some to also have been one of the earliest modern atheists.It is often been pointed out that many of his ideas were similar to those of the Buddha. But there are atheists in all walks of life and throughout history as well. He developed ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in graduate school in Cambridge and has survived with the condition longer than was thought possible. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov [1849-1936] was a Russian physiologist, psychologist and physician. Hitchens, Christopher. Harris quotes passages from the part of the Old Testament traditionally labeled the “Law” that he considers barbaric (such as the command in Deuteronomy 13 to stone family members or close friends to death if they “secretly entice you” to “go worship other gods”) and then asserts (on the basis of his view that Jesus can be read to endorse the entirety of Old Testament law) that the New Testament does not improve on these injunctions. 1962] is an American film actor, director and producer who has won three Bafta Awards, two Golden Globes, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a People’s Choice Award, and two Emmy nominations for her extensive body of work. I wanted to understand.”. Pinker’s works on how children acquire language echoes Noam Chomsky’s work on language as an innate faculty of mind. It was as a visiting professor at MIT in 1967 that he first proposed his electroweak unification theory, which predicted the existence of the Z boson and the existence of a mechanism of mass later known as the Higgs boson. A few decades after the death of Hadrian, a philosopher named Sextus listed the most prominent atheists in history, but the only one whose influence was destined to endure into the Enlightenment was Epicurus. Her first play, Night of January 16th, was produced in Hollywood and then on Broadway. Stenger, Victor. Though it is difficult to find a careful and precise definition of “faith” in the writings of the New Atheists, it is possible to glean a general characterization of this cognitive attitude from various things they say about it. Born into the Jewish community in Montreal, he became an atheist at the age of 13 but remains a “cultural Jew.”. Some may date this as early as the 1500s or later (1700s). They agree that these sociological and psychological phenomena are rooted in biology. Which modern philosophers profess an atheist personalism? With respect to epistemology, critics point out that the New Atheist assumption that religious faith is irrational is at odds with a long philosophical history in the West that often characterizes faith as rational. Noting a potential fossil bed, he went back with an associate of his father’s and was given the funding for a month’s dig. Dawkins argues that the “God Hypothesis,” the claim that there exists a superhuman, supernatural intelligence who deliberately designed and created the universe, is “founded on local traditions of private revelation rather than evidence” (2006, pp. By 1962 he’d earned a private pilot’s license and began offering aerial tours of Olduvai. And critics contend that the New Atheists’ answer to the question, “Why be moral?” could only show that belief in God is not needed to motivate people to be moral; it doesn’t explain what does (or should) motivate atheists to be moral. He is regarded as the second richest man in history, then he gave most of his steel and railroad fortune away to establish libraries, schools and universities all over America. Forging am independent, modern India where educational and social opportunities could been afforded to all citizens regardless of religion or caste, this rejection of any particular belief system in a region hosting such wide diversity no doubt helped him toward his considerable accomplishments. The prosecution side was argued by William Jennings Bryan, the the trial served as the story for the play and later film, Inherit the Wind. Compare that to what taxpayers are now paying the CEOs of failed Wall Street investment firms! Theodorus the Atheist from Cyrene lived around 300 b.c.e. Email: taylor@westmont.edu He was noted for his “tone poems” and operas such as Salome and Elektra, which made use of dissonance and generated much public outcry. https://thebestschools.org/features/most-influential-living- He also worked in radio, hosting CBC Radio One’s Quirks and Quarks, and a weekly program for more mature audiences called Science Magazine. He expresses his hope for a renewed Enlightenment focused on human beings, based on unrestricted scientific inquiry, and eventually productive of a new humane civilization. In a 1973 interview on The Dick Cavett Show Hepburn said that while she agreed with Christian principles and thought highly of Jesus Christ, she had no personal religious beliefs nor any belief in an afterlife. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure – that is all that agnosticism means.” Yet he wrote essays with titles like “Absurdities of the Bible” and “The Myth of the Soul,” suggesting that his agnosticism was strong enough to be considered atheism. For inspiration in a Godless world, Dawkins looks to the power of science to open the mind and satisfy the psyche. 119-120). Perhaps the simplest definition of modern Christian Humanism is the attempt develop a human-centered philosophy of ethics and social action within a framework of Christian principles. Dennett discusses a number of these specific hypotheses more thoroughly in his attempt to “break the spell” he identifies as the taboo against a thorough scientific investigation of religion as one natural phenomenon among many. These authors include Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens. He has been called “Darwin’s Rottweiler” in the press for his strong support of evolution by natural selection. Richard Erskine Frere Leakey [b. Finally, as regards ethics, critics argue that a problem with the New Atheists biological answer to the philosophical question concerning the ontological ground of the universal moral standard is that it could only explain what causes moral behavior; it can’t also account for what makes moral principles true. Soon he and his business partner Kimoya Kameu discovered Australopithecus boisei. A cheerful and popular man with the citizenry for his uncanny ability to predict events, his was known among his fans as the “Laughing Philosopher,” a title that may well have referred more to his scoffing rejection of assigning to gods the mechanistic operations of nature itself. Again, Harris’s view that our ethical intuitions have their roots in biology is representative. David Takayoshi Suzuki [b. In doing so, he employs the concept of a “culturally based replicator,” which Dawkins had previously labeled a “meme” (on analogy with “gene,” which refers to biologically based replicators). Nehru enjoyed the honorific title of “Scholar” and despite his family’s Hindi religious background, was an atheist. Ayn Rand [1905-1982] was a Russian-born writer who emigrated to the U.S. in 1925. Critics also maintain that Dawkins owes the defender of this classical conception of God further clarification of the kind of complexity he attributes to God and further arguments for the claims that God possesses this kind of complexity and that God’s being complex in this way is incompatible with God’s being self-existent. Searle is regarded as an atheist who believes in freedom of will and has argued eloquently (and controversially) for that position. At the heart of his argument is the claim that any God capable of designing a universe must be a supremely complex and improbable entity who needs an even bigger explanation than the one the existence of such a God is supposed to provide. He also managed to get himself banished from Athens which caused him to go into the service of Ptolemy in Alexandria. Himself an atheist, Gould was an advocate for what he called “NonOverlapping Magisteria” [NOMA] as a way to resolve the conflicts between science and religion. In other words, because it was a Gap. The volume has an excellent and extensive bibliography and fine end notes. Pavlov died in Leningrad, his laboratory in St. Petersburg was carefully preserved by the Soviet government as a museum. Laertius complained that Theodorus “did away with all opinions respecting the Gods,” but he may have just rejected the notions of deity popular in his time. Arguments for and against God’s Existence. Atheist philosophers of religion (during their main careers) would include people like J.L. Dennett’s popular work in philosophy of mind and cognitive science, the books Content and Consciousness and Consciousness Explained reflect an expansive and detailed development of his philosophical ideas that have generated some heated debates among his peers. Wilson, who describes himself as a “nice atheist,” views religions as a sort of mega-trait that evolved because it conferred advantages on believers. Today about 2.3 percent of the world’s population identifies themselves as atheist, and nearly 12 percent more (a number that is quickly growing) describe themselves as nontheist – non-believers in any deity. Dennett, Daniel. He shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in physics with Erwin Schrodinger, formulated what became known as the Dirac equation, and held the Cambridge Lucasian Chair in mathematics established by Sir Isaac Newton and currently held by Stephen Hawking. He thinks that scientific exploration into the nature of human consciousness will provide a progressively more adequate natural and rational basis for such a practice. He is a notable promoter of public understanding of science, and his entire course on quantum physics can be downloaded on the iTunes platform from Stanford. Regarding the metaphysical component, the New Atheist authors share the central belief that there is no supernatural or divine reality of any kind. Finally, the challenges to religion posed by the New Atheists have also prompted a number of seminars and conferences. He contributed to many of the robotic missions that explored the solar system and arranged experiments to be conducted during manned moon missions. Hitchens hints at his own source of secular satisfaction by claiming that the natural is wondrous enough for anyone. Letter to a Christian Nation (New York: Vintage Books, 2008). Given this, Dennett questions whether any of the people who claim to believe in God actually do believe God exists. The “New Atheist” label for these critics of religion and religious belief emerged out of journalistic commentary on the contents and impacts of their books. Professor emeritus of linguistics at MIT, and is considered a father of modern linguistics. Atheist Philosophers. Dennett, Daniel. He had an elaborate system for interpretation of dreams as indicators of unconscious desires, and did early neurological research on cerebral palsy. A typical case for this claim appeals to the atrocities perpetrated by people like Hitler and Stalin. He was a capable student and went to the London School of Economics on scholarship. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989). etc. He came in second on the Comedy Central network’s list of 100 Greatest Comedians of all time. The New Atheists counter the claim that religion makes people good by listing numerous examples of the preceding sort in which religion allegedly makes people bad. Dawkins speculates that this cognitive disposition, which tends to help inexperienced children to avoid harm, also tends to make them susceptible to acquiring their elders’ irrational and harmful religious beliefs. 1966] Is an Australian philosopher, director of the Center for Consciousness and past director of the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona in the U.S. His 1996 book The Conscious Mind is considered a seminal work on consciousness and its relation to issues in the philosophy of mind, even by its physicalist detractors. Drawing upon his theory of intentionality, Searle argued in his 1992 book The Rediscovery of the Mind that much of modern philosophy has attempted to deny the existence of consciousness, with little success among conscious people. Francis Harry Compton Crick [1916-2004] is best known as the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA. Frankly, it stayed with me to this day. Peter Ware Higgs [b. Carroll is perhaps better known for his strong advocacy of atheism, once going so far as to turn down an invitation to speak at a conference sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation because he didn’t want to be seen as advocating a reconciliation between science and religion. 1984] is an American computer programmer named by Time Magazine as one of the World’s Most Influential People in 2008 for his development of the internet application Facebook.